THE family of a woman found on Cave Hill after being missing for two days have told how she was given just a five per cent chance of survival.
Lisa Faulkner was located on Friday night by a specialist search team and has been recovering in hospital.
The 41-year-old east Belfast woman had last been seen on Wednesday morning at Lomond Avenue.
She was taken to hospital for treatment but relatives have revealed that the "euphoria of finding her came crashing down" when doctors delivered a grave prognosis.
Posting on Facebook, Lisa's brother-in-law Gary W Smyth said almost one week on from Lisa being found, she is "still in a good bit of pain".
Describing her as a "lucky, lucky girl", he said she had had "conversations with us all and a fair bit of the apparatus that was keeping her comfortable has been removed".
"She is functional brain wise and body," he said.
"Five per cent chance of living we were told around 5am on Saturday morning and that five per cent chance might not have been the Lisa we all knew if she was to survive.
"One of the lead consultants or doctors said it was a miracle, a word she wouldn't normally use in her profession, after the work the medical team had to do to keep Lisa with us.
"Lisa will take a long time to recover physically and obviously emotionally so there's a long road ahead, but Lisa and her family are grateful to be on that road."
Mr Smyth offered thanks to all those who had helped the family.
"Thank you again for all your lovely messages of support and for all who helped find Lisa and the medical team who saved her and continue to help Lisa recover," he said.
"There may be a few hurdles/complications on the way but we'll take that all things considered after Saturday morning's first medical assessment/review feedback.
"Lisa's family and myself will probably walk by some people who helped us and we'll probably not even remember faces and names etc as the last six days are indescribable to be honest but honestly say hello as we will always be grateful.
"Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. Our family is one of the lucky ones."
